Transatlantic Perspectives on Populism: ‘Bugaric & Tushnet’s ‘Power to the People’

Please note this event will take place online via Zoom. Attendees will need to have a Zoom account to access the webinar, a free Zoom account can be set up at registration. 

A major new contribution to scholarship is forthcoming in the book of Bojan Bugarič, University of Sheffield and Mark Tushnet Harvard Law School Power To The People: Constitutionalism:  In The Age Of Populism (OUP, 2021). Bugarič and Tushnet intentionally have set out to challenge the mainstream and perhaps dominant view, that populism is always in every instance antithetical, inimical, incompatible with constitutionalism. The book offers a ‘thin’ account of contemporary constitutionalism and rejects the idea that a single well- defined set of institutions and norms is required for successful democracies to operate While the authors represent a transatlantic partnership, there are also key elements of the book which focus upon many distinctly European casestudies (eg Hungary and Poland; Western Europe; Greece and Spain). Yet where does majoritarian democracy stand in transatlantic circles?  The transatlantic view on the rule of law is key to some for the future of the global liberal legal order and its rules-based commitment to multilateralism and organisations. Leading scholars of populism in EU, international law and constitutional law reflect upon the core themes of the book and the place of the transatlantic in understandings of populism.

The event is jointly organised by the Jean Monnet Chair in Law and Transatlantic Relations, Institute for the Study of European Law (ISEL) and International Law and Global Affairs (ILAG).

Speakers:
Bojan Bugarič, University of Sheffield Law School and Mark V. Tushnet, Harvard Law School

Discussants:
Francesca Bignami, George Washington University Law School (EU law)
Maria Cahill, University College Cork (UCC) Law School (Constitutional law)
Christine Schwöbel-Patel, University of Warwick School of Law (International law)

Chair:
Elaine Fahey, City Law School City University of London

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